Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao each offer unique and distinctive pleasures

Island-hopping Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao in the Caribbean is not quite as easy as ABC, but is definitely possible and certainly rewarding.

The trio of neighbouring "ABC" islands made up the Dutch Antilles until that administrative unit was disbanded in 2010. Some of the ferries that linked them in the past have foundered due to competition from the air, so visitors who wish to visit all three will likely get very familiar with regional airlines like Curaçao-based Insel Air and its Foker 50s.

These three islands share some history as Dutch colonies, fine weather (below the hurricane belt), a language (Papiamento) and burgeoning interest by travellers; but they couldn't be more different.

Aruba has what seems like a mile of soft white sand for each of the honeymooning couples that have made the island the best known of the three. Shopping, resorts, casinos and other touches of island glitz abound.

Bonaire is wilder and more sparse, offering a more one-sided travel experience. About 80 per cent of visitors come for what is considered the best diving in the Caribbean.

Curaçao is the biggest of the islands at more than 60 kilometres long and at most 28 wide. It's where I based myself so I could have a multi-dimensional Caribbean experience. Curaçao is easily the most cosmopolitan of the ABCs, rich in history, cuisine, colour, architecture and art.

It's also evolved into a unique melting pot of Indian, Dutch, African, Jewish and Latin American and other cultures.

Dutch supermarkets have outposts here, where big wheels of Gouda cheese are on display.

To my friends in Canada, Curaçao is "that blue liqueur place," but the island is definitely more multi-hued than its most famous export. Flocks of pink flamingos hover near an azure sea.

The Handelskade, the waterfront main drag in Willemstad, is a row of narrow painted Dutch houses lined up like a box of coloured pencils. (It has UNESCO world heritage status).

I whiled away one long afternoon on the veranda of the colonial style Le Gouverneur restaurant, facing the Handleskade, eating local dishes like keshi yena, a stew cooked in rinds of Edam cheese, and watching the mesmerizing Queen Emma pontoon bridge, locally known as the Singing Old Lady, open and close over the harbour.

Other days, I explored the fine art scene on the island.

I sampled more local cuisine at the Marshe Bieuw (old market), a kind of Curaçao food court, with communal tables and specialties like pika hasa (a spicy dish with red snapper) all cooked in giant pots over coals.

I also got to know Curaçao's fascinating Jewish history, part and parcel of Curacao's history and prosperity. The 1792 elegant Mikve-Israel Emmanuel synagogue is the oldest continuously operating synagogue in the Western Hemisphere.

Curaçao's wealth, it has to be said, is also due to its history as a slave trading port.

The must-see Kuru Hulanda museum tells this terrible story with chilling artifacts and detail.

Subaquatic Curaçao followed, as I join snorkellers and divers for day excursions to outlying Klein Curaçao or to the west side of the island, where the beaches are intimate pocket coves rather than long stretches. The familiar Caribbean refrain of "we're on island time" also applies to plane schedules.

Setting out for my day trip to Aruba, I'd been told the flight was 20 minutes. An Insel attendant told me sheepishly: "There are sometimes delays, landing."

Still the trip was too quick an upand-down to be scary.

Aruba felt much less exotic. With its rows of resorts, familiar retail shops and throngs of day-tripping cruise passengers, it seemed downright North American. Its draws are safety, ease of getting around, what locals brag is the sunniest weather and cooling trade winds.

Eagle and Palm Beaches are long lovely white-sand stretches choked with enough tourists to provide a Spring Break vibe. If you like that scene, grab a bottle of local Balashi beer and join the crowd.

One alternative is renting a fourwheel drive and exploring the island's terrain such as the windswept scrubland of Arikok National Park, where cave walking is popular. The Conchi natural pool, formed out of volcanic stone, was a great place to snorkel or just chill in water kept pristine by constant waves.

My next stop was at wilder, emptier Bonaire - another "20-minute flight from Curaçao."

It offers stretches of white sand beach which seamlessly give way to aquamarine water, but also mud boulders strewn on sand, small cliffs, swaths of tropical vegetation, and wild donkeys galloping across scrubby desert.

Here, too, a decidedly Dutch flavour permeates. "Let op!" road signs are dotted along roads. Salt flats line the island; Bonaire's salt has for centuries salted the famous Dutch herring. Still, what most people come for is under the water: Bonaire's 86 marked dive sights, a protected ringed-reef shore and the Stichting Nationale Parken Bonaire marine park; a benchmark for other Caribbean nations for conservationism. I also had time (it doesn't take much) to wander the two or three main streets of the capital, Kraneldijk, where I ogled beautiful handmade pieces at Elements, South African-native Charlene Bosch's store. There's a real community feel among locals and Dutch second homers, in town and at beach bars, where I had a glass of liqueur made from cactus with the regulars before heading back to the airport, passing Bonaire's donkey sanctuary on the way.

If you go ...

Air Canada Vacations, WestJet and Sunwing serve Curaçao.

Touracao (touracao.com) a tour company offers customized trips depending on your interests including arranging short stays in Aruba and Bonaire from Curaçao.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Share

Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao each offer unique and distinctive pleasures

Video

Travel Videos

Best of Postmedia

“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, ‘Come and see.’ And I saw, and behold a white elephant, and he that sat upon him had a crown, which he wore atop his fiery hair, and […]

Millennials, amirite? They’re nothing but Instagram-happy, emoji-LOL-ing, mannequin-challenging navelgazers. Or so the theory goes. How can they put their pants on one leg at a time, like everyone else, when they’re sausaged into skinny jeans? Yet when it comes to […]

An Ottawa judge has thrown out a romance fraud case that has taken more than four years to go to trial, ruling that the excessive delay has robbed the accused man of his right to a fair trial. Ontario Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips on Friday stayed the case against Kevin Bishop of Ottawa, who had […]

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.